1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to the field of musical instruments, and more particularly to electric guitars and electric basses, wherein such instruments are made with a variety of ranges of pitches that can be produced with varying numbers of strings, typically as few as four or as many as twelve. The present invention applies to all of these variations.
2. Description of the Related Art
Presently, such instruments as an electric guitar include a body and headstock that connect on opposite ends of a strong neck connecting the body and headstock. The typical electric guitar also includes a fingerboard having a plurality of strings attached which comprises either the upper surface of the neck or a separate piece fastened securely to the upper surface of the neck. In either case, the neck bears the tension of the strings, which is quite considerable, and therefore necessitates the use of a neck having sufficient thickness and strength to bear this tension. In addition, it is generally necessary to install one or more adjustable truss rods within the neck to counter the tension of the strings, which otherwise would force the neck to bend unacceptably.
Thus, in the above-mentioned design of an electric guitar, the shape of the neck is constrained by the necessity to bear the tension of the strings. Moreover, even adjusting the distance between the strings and the fingerboard, which is an important characteristic to a player, is cumbersome. Furthermore, a user wishing to change to a different neck, on the electric guitar, to enjoy different playing styles, using either a fretted or fretless fingerboard, will encounter a nearly impossible situation without having to partially rebuild the instrument.
Some of the prior art cited below addresses part of these problems, but these references do so in relatively cumbersome ways, requiring at a minimum an individual to detach the strings from the neck and retuning to the instrument when the replacement is complete.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,081,575, to Pieper, Jr., discloses a stringed instrument that has a neck attached to the instrument body using a locking system which allows the neck to be detached and reattached.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,012,180, to Koeppe, Jr., discloses an apparatus and method for extending and retracting frets of a stringed musical instrument comprising a fret cylinder which engages a slidable rod which extends from the head stock through the neck to the instrument body. The rod is slidable, allowing the frets to be extended and retracted, by a handle attached to a gear shaft attached to a gear which engages the rod teeth on the rod. Moving the handle causes the gear to rotate which moves the rod.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,965,066, to Lace, discloses an elongated string support for a stringed instrument that reduces the stress on the player's wrists.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,667,431, to Norman, discloses a stringed instrument including extending body portions which extend lengthwise pass the neck and attach to the strings to prevent the neck from being stressed by the strings.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,376,756, to Beckmeier, discloses a stringed musical instrument with a neck with designed grooves to allow fingerboards to be switched on the instrument without removing the strings.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,111,175, to Lasner, discloses a neck having a composite material that can withstand the entirety of the tension of the strings without deformation or need for reinforcement.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,846,038, to Turner, discloses a neck structure for a stringed instrument which contains a graphite composite t-bar element.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,137,813, to Stone, discloses a stringed instrument with a neck with designed grooves to allow fingerboards to be switched on the instrument.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,132,143, to Stone, discloses a stringed instrument with a neck with designed grooves to allow different tonal scale fingerboards to be switched on the instrument.
One disadvantage of the aforementioned devices is that none of them claim that their design allows the fingerboard and/or neck to have any shape desired, within practical limits, due to the lack of tension on it.
Many of the devices mentioned above are constructed such that the neck must support the string tension in the above-described conventional way, while other devices do not possess removable fingerboards, allowing for quick and simple switching between fretted and fretless modes of play.
What is needed is the removal of the neck from the conventional electric guitar, and instead, simply constructing the fingerboard to be ergonomically ideal for each player. The removal of the neck brings in the use of an arm and an optional tension rod which can remove the tension-bearing use from a typical neck, leaving simply the fingerboard which may be adjusted to varying ergonomic properties allowing easy switching between fretted and fretless modes of play.